well, Java Web Start does not support the Class-Path entry in the manifest file. The Class-Path attribute is entirely file-centric, whereas Java Web Start and JNLP is web-centric, i.e., based on URLs. Thus, the two models do not merge easily.
Instead of relying on the Class-Path entry, you can list multiple JAR files in the JNLP file, for example:
<resources> <jar href="A.jar"/> <jar href="B.jar"/></resources>In a JNLP file, you can factor out dependencies on a set of JAR files to another JNLP file using the <extension... > element. Thus, you can achieve the same kind of re-usability and ease of maintenance as you do with the Class-Path entry. This feature is described in the specification.
JNLP also implements a just-in-time downloading mechanism, similar to applets. For each resource in a JNLP file, you can specify which parts should be eagerly or lazily downloaded. Eagerly loaded resources are loaded before the application is launched, lazily loaded resources later. Default is eager download. Furthermore, the specification includes an API for which you can programatically query Java Web Start about which resources are available and request them to be downloaded. Thus, you can write download/network aware applications.
Answered by
Uttam
, an ibibo Master,
at
8:33 PM on June 11, 2008